Shawn Ryan Show

#262 Aliia Roza - Russian Sex Spy on Seduction Perfumes, Sexpionage and Honeypot Tradecraft

December 15, 2025

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  • Aliia Roza's initial motivation for joining the Russian intelligence program stemmed from a desire to combat trafficking networks, despite the program involving severe personal trauma and sexual abuse as part of the training. 
  • The Russian state training program, even for seemingly non-espionage roles, systematically programmed agents for success by instilling extreme self-confidence and detaching their bodies from their emotions, treating the body as a mere tool for the mission. 
  • The discussion highlighted the pervasive threat of foreign intelligence operations, specifically Chinese and Russian honeypots targeting high-value individuals in sectors like Silicon Valley and government, often leveraging seduction and emotional manipulation. 
  • Russian intelligence training involves a centralized school system that molds operatives before assigning them to specific agencies like the Investigative Department or a DEA-like drug enforcement unit. 
  • Seduction and psychological manipulation in espionage involve long-term, subtle social engineering, such as creating staged public scenarios to exploit a target's deep-seated emotional vulnerabilities. 
  • Aliia Roza attributes her consistent sexual satisfaction to specialized training from the Kinsey Institute, emphasizing that female orgasm is a personal responsibility achieved through self-awareness and anchoring positive feelings to specific physical or visual cues. 
  • Aliia Roza currently avoids processing deep trauma, preferring to maintain stability and security before confronting painful memories, potentially through methods like psychedelic therapy which she fears. 
  • The sensationalized media portrayal of Roza as a "sex spy" in America, fueled by Cold War narratives, contrasts with her view of her work as 'operative work' focused on dismantling trafficking networks. 
  • Women fundamentally seek 'stability' in a partner, which is defined by self-regulation, commitment, and honesty in small matters, rather than superficial markers of success. 

Segments

Sponsor Reads and Guest Welcome
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(00:00:00)
  • Key Takeaway: The initial segment features advertisements for Kia, PayPal, BRUNT, Lumen, ROKA, and Helix Sleep.
  • Summary: The podcast opens with several sponsor messages covering automotive sales, payment options, workwear, metabolic tracking, eyewear, and sleep solutions. Following the ads, host Shawn Ryan formally welcomes Aliia Roza to the Shawn Ryan Show.
Honeypot Spies in Tech
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(01:16:06)
  • Key Takeaway: Tech giants in Silicon Valley are actively aware of Russian and Chinese honeypot spies targeting them through online seduction.
  • Summary: Shawn Ryan noted that tech executives frequently discuss Russian and Chinese honeypots attempting to extract secrets. He shared observations from his time as a CIA contractor regarding Chinese brothels targeting intelligence professionals in the Middle East. Aliia Roza confirmed the reality of these operations, noting that busy, naive tech professionals are vulnerable to sophisticated online manipulation by professional male officers posing as attractive women.
Media Portrayal and Manipulation Awareness
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(03:34)
  • Key Takeaway: Aliia Roza prefers discussing manipulation prevention over sensationalized media narratives about her spy past.
  • Summary: Roza expressed frustration with press exaggerating her story, preferring to focus on teaching readers how to spot manipulation and red flags online. She cited a New York Times article mentioning that intellectual property theft costs American taxpayers over $600 billion annually, referencing expert James Malvinon’s work on corporate espionage targeting tech.
Trauma and Ongoing Recovery
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(08:09)
  • Key Takeaway: Aliia Roza continues intensive weekly therapy for PTSD and anxiety stemming from her work dismantling trafficking networks.
  • Summary: The conversation shifted to the personal cost of her missions, revealing she was involved in taking down trafficking networks. Roza disclosed that she still works with a therapist weekly, 17 years later, due to ongoing PTSD and anxiety. She noted that even her spy techniques sometimes fail to overcome these psychological challenges.
Patriotic Duty vs. Personal Cost
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(09:15)
  • Key Takeaway: Trained agents felt patriotic duty, overriding the personal trauma of being ‘constantly abused and raped’ during missions.
  • Summary: Roza’s introduction highlighted her background as a KGB-trained seduction agent fighting trafficking, leading to her defection. She quoted herself stating that while saving lives felt good, she never processed the trauma of her body being ‘constantly abused and raped’ by random men during operations. She contrasted this with her classmates who felt purely patriotic and willing to sacrifice everything for the government.
Soviet Upbringing and Collapse
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(27:48)
  • Key Takeaway: Growing up in the USSR provided stability until its 1991 collapse, which resulted in immediate chaos, food shortages, and the loss of ideological belief.
  • Summary: Born in 1984, Roza experienced the stability of the USSR where life was predictable, though boring. The 1991 collapse brought chaos, forcing her family to wait in long lines for basic necessities like bread and eggs. This experience instilled a deep sense of unpredictability and distrust in government from a young age.
Father’s Military Training Influence
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(31:49)
  • Key Takeaway: Roza’s father, a military officer, rigorously trained her in psychological conditioning, extreme driving, and shooting from childhood.
  • Summary: Her father, influenced by his own military heritage, prepared Roza for a military career by teaching her psychological scenarios and testing her responses daily. This training included advanced skills like gun shooting, where she excelled, though she now avoids guns due to PTSD. This preparation was intended to instill pride and duty toward the country.
Recruitment into Seduction Program
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(39:29)
  • Key Takeaway: At age 18, Roza was steered away from her fashion aspirations and directly into a secret intelligence program by her father’s contact.
  • Summary: When Roza expressed interest in fashion, her father insisted she join the Operative Investigation Department as an agent trainee. She was selected for a ‘special program’ at the academy, which she later understood involved seduction and espionage techniques, attracted by the promise of better salary and the ability to travel abroad.
Specialized Training Curriculum
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(46:43)
  • Key Takeaway: The specialized training focused heavily on psychological manipulation, seduction techniques, and building unshakeable self-confidence to program the brain for success.
  • Summary: The specialized curriculum included manipulation, influence, persuasion, lie detection, and social engineering strategies to estimate a target’s weaknesses. Crucially, the training included self-confidence techniques designed to program the brain for success, which Roza credits for helping her survive dangerous missions later on.
Institutional Sexual Abuse in Training
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(51:18)
  • Key Takeaway: Roza was raped by her commander two weeks after enrolling, and she confirmed that all female cadets in the special program were sexually abused by male instructors.
  • Summary: Despite being a virgin, Roza was immediately subjected to sexual assault by a colleague/commander who claimed it was part of the training to detach her body from emotions. She stated that all female students were raped by male teachers, who used their power to coerce compliance under threat of expulsion or harm to their families.
Defection and Life in the West
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(05:48)
  • Key Takeaway: After defecting and living in Europe, Roza was deported from the UK shortly after meeting the Royal Family, forcing her to go public in the US to avoid further deportation.
  • Summary: Roza lived in various European countries for 15 years, including six in London where she met the Royal Family. Shortly after, she was deported from the UK, leading her lawyers to advise revealing her identity publicly in the US to secure legal status and protection. She chose LA over D.C. to avoid political entanglement after receiving renewed pressure from Russian government contacts to return or become an asset.
Russian Unit Structure
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(01:15:04)
  • Key Takeaway: Russian intelligence operatives are trained centrally before being assigned to specialized units like the Operative Investigation Department or a DEA-like drug enforcement division.
  • Summary: Aliia Roza served in two Russian units: the Operative Investigation Department and a drug enforcement department similar to the DEA. The initial state training molds agents before they are picked up by the specific agency that requires them for missions. This structure contrasts with the US system where training is often agency-specific (e.g., CIA schools, FBI schools).
Post-Soviet Criminal Economy
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(01:16:18)
  • Key Takeaway: The post-Soviet revolution period saw widespread privatization of Russian assets for minimal cost, leading to the rise of future oligarchs who later legalized their wealth.
  • Summary: Following the collapse of the USSR, a criminal world blossomed due to weak political control, allowing individuals to privatize massive assets like factories for very small sums. Eventually, figures like Vladimir Putin’s presidency saw these criminals legalize their businesses and become oligarchs. Some oligarchs maintained friendly ties with Putin, while others disappeared or fled the country.
Social Engineering Setup
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(01:23:19)
  • Key Takeaway: Infiltration of criminal targets requires extensive, multi-month social engineering involving detailed surveillance and the subtle installation of psychological triggers.
  • Summary: Missions begin with brainstorming strategy to infiltrate a target group, often using female agents as bait. This involves intense surveillance, gathering minute details about the target’s life (e.g., coffee preference, schedule), and planting bugs. For one target, establishing the social engineering setup took three months before the first approach was made.
Exploiting Past Heartbreak
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(01:26:31)
  • Key Takeaway: A key espionage technique involves identifying a target’s core psychological wound, such as past romantic heartbreak, and subtly reinforcing the desired emotional state through repeated environmental cues.
  • Summary: The team researched the target’s past, discovering he was heartbroken when his sweetheart married another man while he was in the army. To manipulate him, operatives subtly staged scenes featuring couples resembling the target and his past love, progressing from simple affection to showing pregnancy and then a happy family with a newborn, planting the desire for a loving family.
First Mission Seduction Tactics
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(01:35:32)
  • Key Takeaway: A first mission required Aliia Roza to pose as a prostitute in a hotel bar to plant a sealed envelope in a target’s luggage while he was distracted.
  • Summary: Roza’s first task was to seduce a non-criminal government official to place a sealed envelope in his private belongings. She leveraged the target’s situation—a new father whose wife was busy—to make a one-night stand appealing. She gained access to his room by feigning a need to use the restroom or wash a spilled drink on her dress.
Self-Orgasm Anchoring Technique
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(01:57:13)
  • Key Takeaway: Female sexual pleasure is presented as a personal responsibility, achievable by anchoring the peak orgasm sensation to a specific word and a physical touch point, which can then be triggered on demand.
  • Summary: Citing Kinsey Institute findings that many women fake orgasms, Roza detailed a technique to program the brain for self-confidence and sexual response. During self-pleasure at the peak of orgasm, one must say an anchor word aloud while touching a specific body spot. This creates a neurological bridge that can later be activated by touching that spot to induce confidence or, if a target’s photo is used, attraction.
Betrayal and Vladimir’s Sacrifice
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(02:14:55)
  • Key Takeaway: Aliia Roza was betrayed by her own commander, who set her up to be killed by Vladimir’s gang to facilitate a power transfer, but Vladimir ultimately sacrificed his life to save her.
  • Summary: Roza’s commander orchestrated her exposure as a mole to remove Vladimir and install his own protégé as the new drug lord. After being brutally beaten and raped by the gang members, Vladimir, despite being ordered to execute her, listened to her full story and arranged for her escape to Turkey using his foreign contacts. Vladimir was killed two months later by his own associates.
Processing Past Trauma and Drinking
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(02:33:36)
  • Key Takeaway: Avoiding the processing of past trauma by blocking it is unsustainable, as it resurfaces, particularly when drinking.
  • Summary: Choosing a healthy lifestyle involves focusing on future goals rather than dwelling on the past, which is advised against for a beautiful life. The resurfacing of past issues is directly linked to drinking, leading the speaker to abstain entirely. The choice is presented between processing the trauma for understanding or continuing to block it.
Fear of Processing Trauma
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(02:34:42)
  • Key Takeaway: The speaker feels currently too vulnerable and unstable to process deep trauma, fearing it would be destructive without adequate security and support.
  • Summary: The speaker, having worked with therapists for 17 years, admits feeling currently not powerful enough to process past events, fearing it would destroy them. They prefer to keep the memories blocked until they feel stable and safe, which they currently do not feel, even after five years in the US. This vulnerability prevents them from engaging in deep therapeutic work, including psychedelic therapy, due to fear of not mentally returning.
Psychedelic Therapy Efficacy
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(02:36:14)
  • Key Takeaway: Psychedelic therapy is generally considered healing by former special operations personnel, allowing observation of past horrific events from an unemotional perspective.
  • Summary: The host notes that most former special ops individuals find psychedelic therapy very healing, enabling them to process trauma without emotional attachment. The host shares that using psychedelics helped them quit alcohol nearly four years prior. This process throws one back into past situations but allows for objective observation and processing.
Gratitude for Past Experiences
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(02:38:14)
  • Key Takeaway: Despite the pain, the speaker is grateful for their experiences, recognizing they contributed to their current position, but trust issues complicate seeking necessary therapeutic help.
  • Summary: The speaker is approaching a state of acceptance, feeling grateful for the experiences that led them to their current situation. However, deep-seated trust issues make it difficult to share vulnerable information, even with a therapist, meaning they lack the 100% trust required for intense processing like psychedelic therapy.
Message to Vladimir
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(02:39:32)
  • Key Takeaway: If given the opportunity to speak with Vladimir again, the speaker would express profound gratitude for being given a chance to live and be present.
  • Summary: The speaker confirms having feelings for Vladimir and would primarily thank him for saving their life, allowing them to be where they are now. While an apology was offered that night, the core message would be one of deep, bottom-of-the-heart thankfulness for survival.
American Sensationalism and Spy Identity
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(02:42:00)
  • Key Takeaway: American press sensationalizes news, leading to widespread belief that Aliia Roza is still an active Russian spy, a narrative she finds absurd given her public life.
  • Summary: The host expresses distrust in current news due to political violence and division, promoting a series on psyops. Roza notes that in Europe, people warned her against sharing her past, but in America, the story went viral, often compared to ‘Red Sparrow’ fantasies. She clarifies that her work was operative, not ‘spy work’ in the sensationalized sense, and that going public contradicts any active espionage role.
Spy Terminology and Current Mission
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(02:47:04)
  • Key Takeaway: In Russian military/intelligence contexts, individuals are identified by rank or job status (e.g., operative, Agent), not the generalized term ‘spy,’ which is an American label applied to her.
  • Summary: Roza confirms she engaged in spying activities to gather information on targets, which is why she is labeled a spy, though this term is not used internally in Russia. She dismisses the notion that her current public life is a cover, questioning why an active spy would reveal everything on a podcast. The public narrative in America suggests she is still spying for Russians.
Silicon Valley Espionage Threats
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(02:49:31)
  • Key Takeaway: Silicon Valley executives are targeted by foreign entities using seduction and manipulation techniques to steal intellectual property, often through attractive female operatives.
  • Summary: Roza has lectured CEOs in Silicon Valley on preventing manipulation using spy techniques, noting that ABC and Hulu are interested in filming this. Executives are warned to be cautious of unsolicited contact, especially from attractive private accounts on platforms like LinkedIn, as these often target their wealth or technology. Some executives, however, admit the temptation of being seduced by a ‘gorgeous girl’ outweighs the risk of espionage.
Mail Order Brides and Espionage Risk
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(02:54:47)
  • Key Takeaway: Historically, mail-order bride schemes targeting American men, particularly in Silicon Valley, have been used by foreign intelligence services, especially China, to place operatives for IP theft.
  • Summary: Roza discusses the history of men seeking Russian/Slavic wives online, leading to residency visas, which could be exploited by intelligence agencies. Chinese intelligence is noted as particularly focused on stealing intellectual property from US companies using human assets due to resource limitations compared to technology. The moral conflict among these operatives regarding marrying their ’target’ is highlighted.
Family Conflict Over Career Path
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(02:58:24)
  • Key Takeaway: Roza’s father, a former KGB officer, disapproved of her defection and public life, leading to a year-long estrangement because she betrayed his military expectations for her future.
  • Summary: Roza maintains contact with her father but avoids discussing the war or politics, as previous attempts led to arguments. Her father suggested she return to the Russian military, showing he does not grasp her perspective on leaving. When she left Russia, he stopped speaking to her for over a year because she abandoned the military path he had planned for her.
Fashion Career and Public Identity
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(03:02:34)
  • Key Takeaway: Aliia Roza established a successful fashion career and influencer status in Europe before revealing her intelligence background, contradicting claims she only went public for influence.
  • Summary: After moving to London at 30, Roza pursued her dream in fashion, earning a Master’s from Istituto Marangoni and working for major publishing houses like Condé Nast (Vogue, Vanity Fair). She built her Instagram following as a fashion blogger over 10 years, achieving success before revealing her spy identity, which her family in Russia cannot easily access due to platform bans.
Using Seduction Techniques for Good
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(03:06:09)
  • Key Takeaway: Spy techniques, such as anchoring and psychological influence, can be ethically applied to motivate teams, inspire partners, and protect oneself from business manipulation.
  • Summary: Roza confirms using her DNA of influence in a positive way, such as motivating her team to achieve podcast success by inspiring and programming them correctly. These techniques are vital for spotting lies in business partnerships by analyzing body language and behavior to avoid being taken advantage of. Confidence and self-esteem are key boundaries that prevent others from manipulating or using an individual.
Identifying Deception and Lies
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(03:10:23)
  • Key Takeaway: The most significant red flag for deception is being rushed into a decision by a fast-talking individual, which requires immediate withdrawal and time for reflection.
  • Summary: Roza claims she can now ‘smell the lie’ through practice and wisdom, prioritizing the avoidance of rushed decisions above analyzing specific eye movements. A major indicator of manipulation is when someone pressures you to act immediately while simultaneously distracting you with conversation. Checking a person’s background thoroughly via online resources is crucial before entering any commitment.
Women’s Desire for Stability
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(03:18:57)
  • Key Takeaway: The singular thing women want from men is stability, defined by self-regulation, commitment to goals, and honesty, which builds the trust necessary for long-term partnership.
  • Summary: Stability supersedes material wealth; a man who is committed to his work and relationships, even if not yet wealthy, signals trustworthiness to a woman planning a family. Lying, even in small matters, erodes trust, making women question a man’s reliability for future commitment. Women must clearly state their relationship goals early to avoid wasting time with men seeking only casual encounters.